Britain is basking in a heat wave, royal baby fever has hit true (slightly sunburnt) fever pitch, and school's out for summer. We all remember the summer holidays as long, balmy and fantastic. That's probably because our rose-tinted specs have blurred out the endless days of boredom, the rain, the hours spent in traffic jams just to get a look at a ropey waxwork of Paul Daniels at Madame Tussaud's, or queue for 3 hours just to ride 'Oblivion' (which was so worth the queue we inevitably went straight round and joined the back of it again).

In an effort to assuage family boredom, :es has come up with a quick round up of some of the things around the country you can all get up to while waiting for everyone to stop going on about how quickly Kate gets her figure back.

Starting our round-up in Cheshire the Just So Festival (left) kicks off on 16th August at Rode Hall Parkland for three days of story telling magic and other activities, including live action 'Guess Who'. For the under 12's.
|     www.justsofestival.org.uk

If you live in Scotland,and your child goes to summer classes while you're at work, why not try and persuade the organisers to book Ecodrama. They tour in their veg oil powered bus performing in schools and kids groups across Scotland.
|     www.ecodrama.co.uk

Heading down to the South East, on Hadlow Down in East Sussex is the fabulous Wilderness Wood. A 62 acre wood which runs plenty of activities for 'Woodkids' including bug hunts, camp building and castaway activities.
|     www.wildernesswood.co.uk

While Bristol Old Vic was closed for refurbishment they opened an open air theatre outside their main doors in King Street. This proved so popular that this year it's back with a production of Michael Morpurgo's 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' from 13th July - 1st Sept (see video, right).

|     bristololdvic.org.uk/wolf.html

Heading back north to Derbyshire, in Middleton-by-Wirksworth, the Derbyshire Eco Centre is running family courses which everyone can take part in, including pottery, lantern making and dry stone walling.
|     www.ecocentreexchange.org.uk

If you are in London then during the whole of August you can catch the annual Kids Week. This year shows include Horrible Histories, Brainiac Live, A Chorus Line, Dinosaur Zoo (in Regents Park), We're Going On a Bear Hunt, The Lion King, Matilda, Wicked, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, War Horse and We Will Rock You. Children under 16 are admitted free and many of the shows are also running workshops and activities.
|     www.kidsweek.co.uk

Meanwhile, in Wales, Theatre Iolo will be touring with its production of Here be Monsters through July and August. Join the monster hunt.....
|     www.findthemonsters.com

The Titanic Museum in Belfast will be celebrating all things marine with its 'Into the Deep Festival' from the 27th July - 11th August; with activities, a live link to the Nautilus and a chance to see entries of the Ulster Wildlife Living Seas Photography Competition.
|     www.titanicbelfast.com

And finally, if our weather returns to its usual rainy self then your kids can check out shakespearesglobe.com/playground where you can find puzzles, games, articles and other stuff to do whilst you wait to get back outside again.

So you have no excuse not to '..switch off your t.v. and go and do something less boring instead.'

If you know of an event then do post here to spread the word. Sign up or sign in to add a comment...